Sometimes, something simple—like a woven basket—can help make a “crazy big dream” come true. That’s the idea behind Expedition Subsahara, a St. Louis company that sells authentic African basketry and jewelry.
Photographer Sofi Seck founded the company in September 2017 to raise funds to open a technical school for girls in her native Senegal, in west Africa. It’s a project that’s near and dear to her heart. Her mother never received a formal education, but she valued education and worked hard to send her daughter to St. Louis for high school and college.
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Seck says many low-income families in Senegal are not able to afford the fees for secondary school, or they can only afford to send one of their children to school. “In a culture like that, where the women stay home, the girls will always be the ones who are left behind,” she says.
Now she wants to give other girls the chance to further their education, and she’s doing it through traditional weaving techniques that are passed down from generation to generation. Seck and two of her family members weave the baskets for Expedition Subsahara, and a friend creates the beadwork.
“Usually if your mom is a beader, she teaches you beadwork. My mom was a weaver, so she taught me weaving,” she says, noting that women in Senegal usually know how to do one or the other.
Although the baskets may look simple, even the smallest one can take 12 to 14 hours to complete. Seck says the time commitment is worth it because each basket or necklace teaches the new owner about the people who made it.
“When people buy the basket, it comes with … a little explanation,” she says, “so when a friend of yours walks into your home and says, ‘Wow, what is that?’ you’ll know something extra about that basket, like which tribe it’s from or why it’s made from recycled plastic.”
In addition to running the online shop, Seck travels to maker fairs around the country. Right now, 15 percent of every sale is earmarked for the school fund, although she hopes to increase that percentage as the business grows.
Seck has done her homework on the projected costs for the school, and she’s “incredibly optimistic” that she can get it built in the next four years. She hopes to enroll 100 students, and also provide a literacy hub to help women of all ages learn to read and write.
“My mom felt that in order for me to have the life that I wanted, I had to leave my country,” Seck says. “Although that was years ago, that system is still in place back home. I find myself in a place where I’m incredibly privileged as a person who lives in America but also incredibly humbled because I know what it’s like on the other side.
